This invention is directed to the field of portable manually wheeled carts, more particularly for transporting and delivering quantities of beverages.
The present invention is directed to a portable and retractable beverage cart that may be readily transported, by manual means, along a planar surface or up and down steps. The cart, retractable to a thin profile for conveniently transporting in the trunk of an automobile, for example, includes a transporting surface for bulk items, and a transporting surface for plural individual beverage products.
There are a number of prior art and commercial devices that offer limited utility in transporting bulk and individual beverage containers. Certain of the prior art is reflected by the following:
a.) U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,174, to Garbarino, teaches a portable and nestable platform truck. More particularly, the truck thereof relates to a hand-pushed type of truck which may be used to move goods over relatively short distances.
b.) U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,115, to Shiflet, is directed to a portable stowage rack for transporting and displaying beverage containers, such as soft drink bottles, arranged in a plurality of vertically stacked layers. The stowage rack includes a back member, a base inclined toward the rear wall, a plurality of sheet-like members secured to the back member and extending therefrom to overlie each layer of bottles except the top layer, and a wire yoke supported on the back member and extending around the periphery of the upper layer of bottles to retain them in the stacked condition and against lateral movement therefrom.
c.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,857, to Stevens, relates an integrated food service cart system having a pair of upper panels and a pair of lower shelves supported on the frame pivotal between horizontal service positions and vertical storage positions. The upper panels have spaces for holding chafer pans therein and pivotable support members extending below the spaces for holding chafer heating elements therein. The support members pivot into the spaces when the panels and shelves are pivoted to the vertical positions, thus assuming a slim profile for storage. Preferred features include a collapsible food shelf or coffee urn bridge mountable on the frame, clips on the undersides of the lower shelves for storing the chafer pans, and a collapsible awning assembly having a vertical support tubes, risers telescoped into the support tubes, awning heads pivotably mounted on the risers with labyrinthine head bars extending between them, support arms pivotably mounted on the risers, stretcher bars mounted to the ends of the support arms, and an awning membrane stretched across the stretcher bars and through the head bars.
While the foregoing prior art offers some conveniences to an operator in transporting selected articles, none provide the utility and convenience of the beverage cart of this invention. The manner by which this invention brings to an operator the unique utilitarian features hereof will become clearer to those skilled in the art from the following description, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
This invention is directed to a hand truck or portable and retractable cart for use primarily in transporting and dispensing beverages in bulk or individual containers. The cart comprises a U-shaped, planarly aligned frame having a pair of free ends with a wheel, at each free end, pivotal from an operable position perpendicular to the plane of the frame to a retracted position aligned with the frame. Further, first and second platforms are pivotally mounted to the frame movable from an inoperative position adjacent the frame to a temporarily locked position perpendicular thereto. The first platform includes a pair of openings to provide relief to the wheels in the retracted position, and the second platform includes at least one hinged section.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a beverage cart that can easily transport and dispense beverages at selected locations.
Another object hereof is the provision of a beverage cart that is readily retractable to reveal a thin profile for convenient storage and transportation, such as in the trunk of an automobile.
These and other objects will become more apparent in the following drawings and specification.